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Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller used a September 29 speech at Sibos 2026 to discuss how AI could affect cross-border payments and autonomous online shopping. He described possible gains in fraud screening and payment routing, while warning that agent-delegated purchases will require stronger safeguards as the technology develops.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller said at Sibos 2026 that artificial intelligence could help improve cross-border payment screening and routing, while raising new questions about how consumers can safely authorize AI agents to shop and pay for them. His speech described agentic commerce as an early-stage development whose wider effects would depend on adoption and the safeguards built around autonomous purchases.
Waller said the payments industry has already used machine learning to combat fraud and adopted large language models for tasks such as payment reconciliation. He pointed to research indicating that large language models can reduce false-positive alerts in sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering systems. That could leave staff more time to examine complex, higher-risk cases and reduce friction for legitimate transactions, though he did not cite a specific study or quantify the expected effect in the speech excerpt.
For cross-border payments, Waller also identified cybersecurity and transaction routing as areas where AI could matter. AI may assist operators with threat detection and finding software vulnerabilities, but he warned that more capable tools could also help attackers. Because payment systems are interconnected, a successful attack could disrupt international commerce. AI agents could also help evaluate routing, currency conversion and liquidity choices against criteria such as cost, speed and reliability.
Waller described two forms of agentic commerce. In an agent-assisted purchase, the agent helps find products while the consumer decides and pays. In an agent-delegated purchase, the consumer gives an agent authority to shop and pay within set constraints. He offered a pre-funded virtual card used to buy groceries based on past purchases as an example. Market participants at a Federal Reserve roundtable broadly viewed the field as being in an early phase, he said.
Safeguards Will Shape Delegated Shopping
The distinction between assistance and delegation changes who makes the purchase decision and when a person must intervene. A search tool can recommend an item while leaving the consumer to approve the transaction; a delegated agent may complete a purchase under instructions the consumer set earlier. That raises practical questions about spending limits, authorization and unintended purchases.
For payment providers and merchants, wider use of agents could also change how customers discover products and how transactions are initiated. Waller’s remarks describe possible effects, not evidence that agentic commerce has already reached broad adoption. If it scales, clear controls over an agent’s authority will matter to consumer trust as well as payment operations.
In cross-border systems, better screening or routing could reduce some delays and operational burdens. But Waller cautioned that payment networks face an uneven cybersecurity challenge: attackers may need to exploit one vulnerability, while operators must protect many connected systems. The potential efficiency gains therefore sit alongside the need to protect a large attack surface.
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From Fraud Screening to Shopping Agents
Waller delivered the speech at Sibos 2026 in Miami on September 29. The BIS published it on October 5 under the title “Payments in the age of AI agents.” Waller said his focus followed a prior Sibos address on emerging technologies in global payments, narrowing this year’s discussion to artificial intelligence.
He linked the new discussion to existing payment-sector uses of AI: machine learning for fraud detection and large language models for reconciliation. He also referred to an industry roundtable on agentic commerce that he hosted at the Federal Reserve at the beginning of the summer. According to Waller, participants broadly agreed that the activity remained at an early stage.
Within commerce, he described consumer-to-business transactions as the expected first wave, with agent-assisted shopping likely to come before more autonomous delegated purchases. Consumers could use general-purpose agents offered by AI firms or agents built for individual merchants; personal assistants might also become a route to shopping. These are possibilities discussed in the speech, not a confirmed timetable for adoption.
Adoption and Controls Remain Open
The speech does not establish how quickly consumers will adopt AI shopping agents, which safeguards providers will use, or how responsibility would be handled if an agent makes an unintended purchase. Waller said delegated commerce carries higher risks and needs a more extensive buildout of trust mechanisms and guardrails, but the excerpt does not specify standards, enforcement arrangements or a rollout schedule.
The address also does not provide quantified estimates for potential improvements in cross-border payment costs, speed or security. It refers to research on false-positive alerts without naming the study in the available text. The relative performance of AI tools against evolving cyber threats remains uncertain.
Payment Firms Face Design Choices
Payment firms, merchants and AI providers will need to develop and evaluate authorization methods, spending constraints and other trust mechanisms as agent-delegated shopping moves beyond early use cases. Waller’s speech does not announce a new Federal Reserve rule or a formal implementation timetable.
For cross-border payments, the next developments to watch are whether providers deploy AI for screening, cybersecurity and routing, and what evidence they publish about results. Waller’s remarks set out potential applications and risks; they do not confirm that particular systems have been adopted or that expected gains have been achieved.
Key Questions
What did Christopher Waller say about AI and payments?
At Sibos 2026, Waller discussed possible uses of AI in cross-border payment screening, cybersecurity and routing, as well as AI agents that shop and pay for consumers.
What is agentic commerce?
It is the use of AI agents to help with or carry out online purchases. In the assisted model, a person decides and pays; in the delegated model, an agent can act within authority and limits granted by the consumer.
Has agentic commerce become widespread?
The speech does not establish widespread adoption. Waller said market participants viewed the field as being in an early phase and described broader effects as conditional on adoption scaling.
How could AI affect cross-border payments?
Waller said AI could help reduce false-positive screening alerts and assess payment routing, currency conversion and liquidity choices. He also warned that AI may increase cyber risks as well as support defensive work.
What remains uncertain about AI shopping agents?
The speech does not specify common safeguards, liability arrangements, adoption timelines or measured effects on payment costs and speed. It says delegated purchases require stronger trust mechanisms and guardrails.
Source: primary
